With my thanks to my friend Dan Nachtrab for pointing this out on the VO-BB.com today, here’s a terrific article which not only features three talented voiceover fellows, but also some interesting observations about the whole Union vs. Non-union question. It’s well worth your time.
Blog
Ever wondered about compression?
Dan Lenard, blogging at Master VO, offers a post with some valuable background on what, how and when to use compression. As a mostly self-taught audio guy, I find this kind of information incredibly valuable. Maybe you do too.
An exaggerated death
Over at Tim McLaughlin’s blog, he asks and answers the question “Is Broadcast Advertisting Dying?” I think Tim makes some excellent points.
I’ll say again, as I’ve noted here a number of times: the world of voiceover work is growing not shrinking. In fact, it’s growing fast enough that there’s plenty of work for everyone with the talent, drive and teachable spirit needed to be successful.
But, to be successful you do need to have at least some talent.
You do need to be persistent enough to make it through the tough times.
And you can’t believe you know it all. Because you don’t. Neither do I. In fact, I probably know less than you. But, there’s always something to learn. Always.
An article worth your time
You’ll find a very nice interview with voice actress Karen Hutton at the Voicemarketer.com blog, here. Enjoy.
Kudos to Dan
My friend Dan Nachtrab has just received a very nice compliment, being listed at VoiceIsland.com in the top 10 for TV Promo voices. Good for you Dan!
Demystifying the Home Recording Studio
There’s a new blog I’ve just added to my blogroll over on the left called Master VO. Dan Lenard introduces himself as the writer of this blog in his first post, here. I strongly suspect I’m going to visit this little corner of the blogosphere quite often.
Let me know what you think. You can leave a comment. They’re open.
Live blogging Debbie Munro’s Webminar
12:00 Noon – Debbie Munro is an experienced voiceover talent, introduced today by Caroline Perkins, Project Manager at Voice123.com. Debbie begins by describing how much she enjoys doing voiceovers. It wasn’t easy to get in to this business. It took a lot of hard work. She’s worked full-time for about 6 years and encouraged all of us to get a professional home studio set-up.
12:05 PM – Debbie talks about the value of a membership at Voice123.com (the sponsors of this Webminar), how it can provide professional experience auditioning, providing a web presence and possibly some income all for only $195.00 (US) per year.
12:08 PM – How do you start? With a demo? A demo is important, but she says the right place to start is at the start. She also mentions that she’s going to talk about The Key Ingredients of a voiceover career, the Types of Work available, different Reads to Know, How to Create Characters, A Script Checklist, Industry Secrets.
12:12 PM – How can voiceover work benefit me? By giving me the opportunity to work full or part time, at my own schedule. Work in my own home. It’s less discriminating than acting. (By this she explains “the look” is imperative, and talent can be secondary in film and television acting. Voiceover work depends on one’s talent, or ability to delivery the goods, is the whole deal.) But, to do this, you need training. Read. Take classes. Find our own styles and areas of ability.
12:17 PM – Further benefits of voiceover work? You can pick and choose what you want to work on. Do what you want and make money at it. Debbie suggests that they next time we’re at a party, start doing character voices for the kids. By this we learn to break through the inhibitions that we’ve lost since we were children. And this “childishness” is vital to be able to engage in characters. If the kids pay attention, you know you’re doing it well. This is how we get in touch with our “inner child” and learn to break through.
12:20 PM – So where do we start? Set realistic goals. It’s vital not to set goals that are completely out of reach. Take classes, but not just stage acting. Film and television acting as well; because it’s important to balance internal and external acting energy. Voiceover classes. Improv classes. Research the history of voiceover. For example, Daws Butler and June Foray.
12:24 PM – Create a demo. But, don’t rush into doing a demo. How do you know when you’re ready to make a demo? When you don’t have to ask yourself “Am I ready to make a demo?” Because you have to be actually deliver the goods of what’s on your demo when you’re in the studio. And make sure you work with a director who actually will direct. My demo needs to reflect who I am, my personality.
12:27 PM – Contract with an agent. But, don’t rely on the agent to find all of your work. Market yourself. Debbie mentions that she talks about her voiceover work where ever she goes. And finds a remarkable amount of work just by talking with people.
12:29 PM – Practice, practice, practice. Listen for interesting voices in real life. Audition the scripts that come through Voice123.com. All different kinds. Keep practicing and keep studying. Study the midwestern US accent, which is the “standard” sound.
12:31 PM – Book work and Have fun!
12:32 PM – What do we need? Talent and passion. Means to a recording studio, either through renting time at a local studio or building one’s own at home. A great demo. Listen to lots of demos. What do I like? What don’t I like. Write down impressions both ways. But, again, we have to be able to pull off what’s on our demo. A web site. Make sure my own personality shines through the site. We needs to be able to do different reads and characters. Lots of ideas. Don’t be afraid to add something to the copy, especially in animation. Versitility.
12:36 PM – Take a chance and put yourself out there. Risks are risks. There can be a huge payoff, and there can a huge downside. Being willing to look stupid. Never take “no” for an answer, take it for what it is “Not right now, maybe later.”
12:37 PM – Stay organized and keep business focused.
12:39 PM – What kind of work is available? Anything that has a voice? Talking toys. Video games. Internet flash presentations. Web sites. Every script has a character in it. See the characters. Find the characters. Our reads will improve. What reads do I need? Conversational, which is most popular right now. Hard Sell. Medium sell. Soft sell. Sultry (but to pull it off you have to feel sexy). Flat (throwing it away, kind of “less is more.”) Monotone which is harder that it seems. Straight. Energetic. Narrative (telling a story). Character (which is all over the place).
12:43 PM – Who am I (the character I’m playing)? Define with as much detail as possible, scanning for clues in the script. What am I talking to? Acting is reacting (re-acting). Back story? Motivation? Location and what’s happening? Each character is another personality, become that personality completely. There is no wrong way to do a character. The client might like it or not, but go with what seems right.
12:47 PM – Record practices. Listen back. It’s vitally important to be able to self-direct and learn. Listen for human qualities. Listen for what sounds “real” now fake. Learn to be comfortable with what we sound like. Stay focused.
12:49 PM – This is a tough business. You might not make it. But, there are a billion commercials every day (world wide) and James Earl Jones can’t voice them all. So, persist. Focus on realistic goals, not on getting rich. Staying power is vital. Have fun. Have faith in yourself. Be interesting and interested. Never stop learning. Tenacity is vital. Stop thinking about it. Do all the homework, but when you’re in front of the mike let it go and just let things come out.
The balance was questions and answers. Debbie talked about how she got started and her life-long passion for acting, the blossoming market of podcasts, suggestions for folks who are having a hard time landing work, taking further private coaching, focus on specific areas of work like commericals as you get started, how to find a good coach for training, how to learn computer audio editing, Debbie mentions that she’ll be starting an on-line course on January 9, 2007.
Learn the lingo in one easy step
If you’re new to voiceover work, or even if you’ve been in the business for a while, you may encounter words or terminology with which you’re not familiar. Having to ask “what does that mean?” is not only embarrassing, but could give the impression that you aren’t really a pro.
Marc Cashman has compiled an extensive list of terms related to the voiceover industry and posted the list at the Vox Daily voiceover blog at Voices.com. Read. Learn. You’ll be glad you did.
Two great masters in one video
If you are a fan of the great Warner Brothers cartoons featuring the myriad voices of Mel Blanc, then you’ll want to click here. Because not only is it the late, great Mel Blanc, it’s the late, great Johnny Carson interviewing him. Really.
Be prepared for a bit of a wait, but it’s worth it.
(Update: I neglected to thank Jeffers at the Voiceover Bulletin Board for the link. You’ll find his post at the start of this thread.)
Valuable thoughts about voiceover work
In Ryan’s Voicemarketer.com blog interview with Wayne June, you’ll find some very valuable information about the world of voiceover work. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.
Reality check, part two
You can find uninformed comments in some pretty surprising places…at least that’s been David Houston’s experience. Read about it in this post on his blog.
Away from the microphone
Joe Cipriano’s latest blog post gives us a glimpse into what he calls The Perfect Weekend. Enjoy, it’s a very pleasant read.
You have to see this to believe it
Over at the American Small Business blog, there’s a photo you just have to see to believe; part of a publicity stunt pulled off by KFC. No, this post doesn’t have anything to do with voiceover, but there’s a lesson here about publicity stunts that’s worth taking to heart of you decided to try one.
You’ll find an interview with Don LaFontaine…
Over at the Voicemarketer.com blog. Ryan’s done a nice job with this interview. It’s certainly worth your time.
Packing it in, more thoughts
Whether you agree or disagree with what I wrote below under the title “Packing it in”, I hope you’ll take a few moments to read the superbly written post from my friend and fellow voiceover talent Mary C. McKitrick titled “How do you know when to quit?”
Mary provides some thoughtful commentary that puts much of what I wrote in exactly the right perspective. It’s a long post, but well worth your time.
Now that you’ve finished reading Mary’s comments, I want to be sure that my advice to you is clear. Do I want you to quit your attempts to build a voiceover career? I don’t have any standing to even offer an opinion. I can’t possibly know enough about you or your specific circumstances to advise you, what ever level of success or lack of same that you currently experience. And if you do quit, one thing you know for sure, you won’t be a success in voiceover.
But, as Mary has so cogently pointed out, you’re not limited by anything except your persistence and effort to achieve success in many different fields. And that success need not come easily. Indeed, it will be doubly sweet if it comes after much effort and struggle. (I cherish my college degree because I paid for all but $45.00 of it from my own pocket.)
Only you can decide if you should quit or keep on trying. But, then that was the point of my previous post. Or to put it another way, not deciding is a kind of deciding too; and if in your not deciding you’re hurting your marriage, your children or yourself then…fill in the rest for yourself.
Thanksgiving 2006
Today is the Thanksgiving holiday 2006 in the United States. There are celebrations in other countries that parallel to some degree this holiday. Canada has a Thanksgiving holiday in October. Australia’s is in July, I believe. And as was mentioned in our church service this morning, the roots of a “day of thanksgiving” stretch back at least 4500 years to ancient Israel.
For an insight into the distinctive nature of this holiday for one who is a native of the USA, I would be hard pressed to find better words than these, which come from an editorial first published in the Wall Street Journal in 1961 and reproduced again today as they have been every year since.
…we can all remind ourselves that the richness of this country was not born in the resources of the earth, though they be plentiful, but in the men that took its measure. For that reminder is everywhere–in the cities, towns, farms, roads, factories, homes, hospitals, schools that spread everywhere over that wilderness.
We can remind ourselves that for all our social discord we yet remain the longest enduring society of free men governing themselves without benefit of kings or dictators. Being so, we are the marvel and the mystery of the world, for that enduring liberty is no less a blessing than the abundance of the earth.
And we might remind ourselves also, that if those men setting out from Delftshaven had been daunted by the troubles they saw around them, then we could not this autumn be thankful for a fair land.
Read the entire thing. It’s well worth a few moments of your time.
You never know who might see
Adam Creighton is a talented actor both on camera and as a voiceover talent. His blog post Toy Job resume lies is a classic illustration of why it’s never a good idea to boast about something you didn’t really do…especially in your efforts to find voiceover or other acting work.
The Blogosphere belongs to…
The Blogosphere. (Note: this post has nothing directly to do with voiceover work.)
My thanks to The Instapundit for reminding me with one of his posts today, to check out Terry Heaton’s PoMo Blog; a site I’ve visited from time to time.
Terry writes about the ownership of the blogosphere in this insightful post. Well worth your time, especially if you have any interest in reading or writing blogs.
What about the voice?
Today a few thoughts about working in the studio.
A few days ago I congratulated one of my correspondents, Noel, on landing his first paying job through Voice123.com. He wrote again today with some additional observations that I’ve asked his permission to copy here. And then below, an observation that I hope is helpful not only to him, but to you as well.
Noel writes that he’s beginning to understand…
…not only is it the sound and range of one’s voice, but the ability to not get all hung up on listening to the sound of one’s own voice. The ability to lift the words off the page counts for something as well.
Best regards,
Noel G
Not only is Noel right that the ability to lift the words off the page counts for something, it’s very nearly everything. This is critically important, so please take note. It’s not about you or your voice.
Really, it’s not. There are literally hundreds of millions of people with pleasant sounding voices in the world, millions of whom speak English as their native tongue. And of those millions, most have a voice that’s more pleasant sounding than your voice…at least to some people.
You know all those times when you auditioned for a job and someone told you they hired you because you “had just the right voice for this project”? Here’s what they were really saying: “we loved what you did with our script.” How do I know that’s true? Because if they didn’t love what you did with their script in your audition, they would have hired someone else. Think about it for a second. If you mangled their script, gave no indication that you understood the message, they would never hire you.
Having an interesting, or pleasant, or appealing voice is the price of admission. It’s like a restaurant that advertises tasty food. What? As opposed to all of those other restaurants with bad tasting food? No, of course not. And for that matter, a pretty long list could be created of successful voiceover people with annoying voices. AFLAC!
It’s not about you. It’s not about your voice. It’s about your client and the message that client is trying to convey. You’re either helping deliver that message effectively or your not working. At least not for long.
Let me know what you think. Comments are open.
Packing it in?
So, you’ve been trying for a while now to make some money doing voiceovers, right? You’d read on a website about all the money people make doing voiceovers. All your life people have told you that you have a nice voice and you really should be “on the radio” or a “voiceover person.” You know how to talk, so how hard can it be?
But…
After hundreds of dollars spent getting a demo made. Hundreds more having a website designed and hosted. And joining Internet casting sites. And doing dozens, even hundreds of auditions through those sites. You’ve tried low-balling the price. You’ve tried raising the price. And what do you have to show for it? Zip? Maybe a few hundred dollars?
So…
What now? You’ve heard that “winners never quit and quitters never win,” but you’re wondering how much more money you have to sink into your voiceover “career” before you start making those big bucks?
Well, where ever you are on the road I’ve just described, please believe me; the vast majority of people trying to make money doing voiceovers never do. Yes, the vast majority. And there are lots of folks who will happily take your money to “train you for a professional voiceover career” or “create that killer demo” or whatever. Maybe you’ve already met some of them?
Being successful in voiceover requires a host of skills, only some of which have anything to do with talking into a microphone. If you don’t succeed it’s both because and not because of the competition. There’s always someone more experienced, more talented and more driven than you are. Always. Someone with a better voice. A better demo. A better agent. Or something.
You can make excuses all day long. None of them amount to a hill of beans, except for the way they block you from actually getting where you want to go.
So, here are some concrete suggestions from a guy who’s learned more than a few things the hard way…
Don’t sign up for the first training opportunity you find. At least, don’t sign up until you’ve checked to see if the person doing the training actually knows his or her stuff. And until you’ve checked to see if the prices being charged are reasonable. In many cases, you’d be far better off taking an acting or improv class at the local community college. And then some singing lessons. If you have talent for voiceover work, you’ll learn everything you really need (except microphone technique) in theatre and singing classes.
Don’t make a demo until you’ve spent at least a few months listening to the demos of top notch working professionals. Here, I’ll save you the trouble of finding them. Click this link. That’s the Union/International house reels for voiceover talent agents. As you can see and hear, there are hundreds of people in line ahead of you. Actually, it’s not hundreds. It’s thousands.
Don’t build a website until you have a demo worth promoting. And when you build the site, again, don’t go with the first person you meet who can code a little html. Has this designer ever worked on a site for a voiceover person, or even an actor, before? Look at the sites. Look at lots of sites from other voiceover people. Take note of what you like and what you don’t like. Discuss these with your designer. Or, do what I did. Find a template you like, study some html, and build your own.
Are you depressed yet? Look, I’m deliberately trying to splash some cold water on your face because at some point you have to examine the question: is it time for me to quit this and get back to doing something else with my life?
Bonnie Gillespie is a brilliant Hollywood casting director, mainly for independent films. She writes a weekly column for Showfax called The Actor’s Voice. I’ve pointed to her work a number of times before, but this post was prompted by reading Bonnie’s column from October 16, 2006. While, as usual, the focus is on Hollywood actors, the lessons apply to all of use who earn our trade acting with our voices in places other than Hollywood. As Bonnie writes…
What I’m hoping to provide here is a nice little kick in the butt for those of you who hem and haw about leaving the biz. To paraphrase Yoda: Leave or leave not. There is no whine.
And this is, I think, the money quote…
Remember that what you do as an actor most of the time is pursue work. So I’m not talking about finding yourself jealous of those who are succeeding in ways you were not. That doesn’t count. That’s like being an astronomer and finding yourself jealous that you didn’t discover a new planet. Very, very, very few people have the level of success that draws people to the pursuit of acting in a major market. If you cannot be happy pursuing the work, improving your craft, and building relationships in this industry, you absolutely should consider packing it in…
Take a long hard look at reality. Are you putting your family in jeopardy? Are you spending too much time and money on this dream of voiceover success? Do you truly understand in your bones that voiceover work, like any other kind of acting work, is mainly finding work? This is a marketing and sales job far more than it’s a “talk into the microphone” job.
So, how are you doing? I’d love to read your thoughts and experiences. Comments are open.